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Is Press Freedom Fading Away Around the World?

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Is America the free press's last stand? It can feel that way when you look around the world. English-speaking countries and Europe have traditionally been relative bastions for independent media in a world where political leaders have little tolerance for dissent, but Britain is on the verge of adopting explicit state regulation of the press and the European Union and Australia seem poised to follow. That's especially frightening when you consider that many European nations currently rank above the United States in terms of press freedom—but their collective advantage could be wiped away in a single legislative moment.The British press has, traditionally, been ... spunky. That means that U.K. journalists put their U.S. counterparts to shame when scrutinizing government officials and other public figures, but that can also translate into a cavalier attitude toward the boundaries of propriety when pursuing a story. Specifically, the News of the World, an old and widely read newspaper and part of Rupert Murdoch's press empire, was caught "phone hacking"—breaking into private voicemail messages—with the assistance of friendly police officials. Looking for scoops, reporters gained easy access to personal lives, including that of a murder victim, and military personnel killed in action. In the fallout, the newspaper was shut down. Nasty stuff, for sure, and seemingly settled by the closure of a large publication, unless you have a coterie of offended snooping victims, privacy-shy celebrities, and a clacque of authoritarian radicals looking for an opening to impose state control on the press. Those constituencies came together in Hacked Off, a lobby group for press regulation. And Hacked Off was able to leverage the scandal into an inquiry led by Sir Brian Henry Leveson, a jurist more than happy to deliver a recommendation that the British government institute formal regulation of the press.That regulation, the implementation of which is still under hot and heavy debate in the U.K., would likely take the form of a government body with the power to set standards for the press, order the media to issue apologies and corrections, and impose fines. Newspapers and magazines wouldn't be forced to subject themselves to regulation, but those that opted out would suffer escalated damages if they were sued for such matters as libel or breach of privacy, and lost, in the government's courts.Note that the U.K. is already notorious for the ease with which prominent people, in particular, can sue people who say inconvenient things about them.As the U.K.-based Index on Censorship warns:Britain being Britain, precipitating factors are required before the country contemplates jettisoning hard-won liberties. The European Union, on the other hand, just spits Orwelllian crap out, seemingly on a whim. At least, there doesn't seem to be any particular reason the European Commission's High-Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism coughed up a report, A Free and Pluralistic Media to Sustain European Democracy, praising the free press as a necessity for democratic nations—such a necessity, that is, that each member of the European Union should have an independent media council, empowered to maintain that freedom by upholding "European values" and "the public function of the media."If you're scratching your head and wondering what "removal of journalistic status" could possibly mean, you're not alone. But "journalistic status" implies something formal that can be taken away, which suggests permission from the state, which almost certainly means occupational licensing. So, the European Union apparently wants journalists to seek the nod to practice their craft from the government officials they're supposed to scrutinize.Rather more politely than might be necessary, the Index on Censorship points out:The European Commission move seemed to catch Britain off-guard, which may have been deliberate. The European report pointed to the fact that there was actual debate over the Leveson recommendations as grounds for the EU to step in, saying "this resistance by itself underscores the urgent need for supervisory bodies that can and do act, instead of being supervisory in name only."The High-Level Group on Media Freedom and Pluralism report is no small matter considering how many nations are potentially affected should its recommendations be implemented across the not- quite-a-super-state. Even if you raise an eyebrow at Reporters Sans Frontieres's ranking (PDF) of the United States as 32nd in press freedom, it's difficult to object to the group's observation that "After a serious decline in civil liberties during the eight-year Bush administration, Barack Obama’s election as president raised many hopes that were quickly dashed." Notable, also, is how many European Union members gain high ranks in RSF's ratings: Finland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Sweden, Austria—all rank above the United States at present. It's impossible to see even an EU-tilting organization continuing those high marks under a regime like that proposed by European Commission group with the improbable name, with government councils somehow empowered to yank "journalistic status." That would be 27 countries gathering up their media under state dominance, all at once.Even in the English-speaking world, the infection spreads. Last year, Australia's Finkelstein Inquiry actually beat Leveson to the punch, recommending a "News Media Council" that would set standards for the press and punish those who strayed from the fold. The Finkelstein Inquiry, like the Leveson Inquiry, was nominally inspired by the News of the World scandal. But Finkelstein's team was a bit more open about the political implications of its efforts. Referring to the "origins of the inquiry," the report says:Note that The Australian and the Daily Telegraph are both conservative-leaning newspapers, and a bit of a thorn in the side for the current Labor government of that country.Leveson's team may have been more discreet than Finkelstein's. But parliamentary debate still rages hot and heavy in Britain. Meg Hillier, a Labour MP (yes, Australia and Britain spell "labor" differently), spilled the beans on the rush to censorship. Reports the Press Gazette: The former junior minister told Press Gazette she does not support the statutory underpinning being called for by her party. Read More

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